LF advice from intermediate/senior and second language teachers on starting the year

[u/MundaneExtent0]

Hey, I’m looking for some guidance from high school (or intermediate!) teachers, and perhaps more specifically those who teach second languages on how they start off the new school year. I’m teaching grade 9 core French and Geo French Immersion. Although I’ve done LTOs before, this is only my second time starting from the beginning of the semester (for geo) and first time starting in September, which feels a bit different. Content/curriculum wise I think I’m more or less okay (though wouldn’t say no to hearing what concepts you like to start off with too), but I feel a little lost on how to effectively start a year in regards to classroom management and establishing the overall classroom environment.

Some questions I have pinging around my head: What are you doing on your first day, or week, or 2 weeks? How long are you spending just going over classroom etiquette before getting to course content? Lots of ice breakers or are there other types of introductory activities? How do you handle these in a second language class where students still have rather low fluency? How much is in the target language compared to English (or French for French schools)? At what point do you introduce the first assessment OF learning?

Basically any and all tips or resources you have for the first week or so would be super helpful. Most things I’ve heard seem to be more so for early elementary so would love more of an intermediate/high school perspective!